Winners Announced for Edith Wharton Writing Competition

Lenox, MA (May 15, 2006) --

May 15, 2006                                                                                                                                       

WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR

EDITH WHARTON WRITING COMPETITION

The winners in the Ninth annual Edith Wharton Writing Competition have been announced by Edith Wharton Restoration at The Mount, co-sponsors of the competition with The Berkshire Eagle. The yearly event, open to all high school juniors and seniors in Berkshire County and bordering towns, was established in 1998 to encourage and reward good writing in the name of one of America’s greatest writers.  Wharton’s 1902 estate, The Mount, is open to the public as a museum and is in the midst of a major restoration.

The competition is underwritten by a generous grant from The Foxhollow School Foundation. Good writing was central to an education at The Foxhollow School, which owned The Mount from 1942 to 1975.

136 entries were received in the three categories of fiction, poetry, and essay. The judges for the competition this year were: Cassandra Cleghorn for essay, Karen Shepard for fiction, and Peter Filkins for poetry.  Cleghorn and Shepard are faculty members at Williams College, and Filkins teaches at Simon’s Rock College.   

The First Place winners, receiving an award of $500 each and publication in The Berkshire Eagle, are:

Essay:  Jessica Yarmosky (Monument Mountain Regional High School, 11^th grade): “Take All You Can Before You Go”

Fiction: Katharine Hopkins (Drury High School, 12^th grade): “The Defender’s Wife”

Poetry: L. Katz (Berkshire Country Day School, 12^th grade): “The Plantation Inn”

Winners of the Citation of Merit, receiving an award of $100 each and publication in The Berkshire Eagle, are:

Essay: Elyse Yarmosky (Monument Mountain Regional High School, 11^th grade): “Structure”

Fiction: Logan Garrity (Mt. Greylock Regional High School, 12^th grade): “Messiah”

Poetry: Rachael Hyman (Berkshire Country Day School, 12^th grade): “Sundays with Mother”

The judges also cited entrants deserving Honorable Mention. They are:

Essay: Linnéa Kristina Clark (Miss Hall’s School, 12^th grade): “On the Edge of Truth”

Fiction: Davis Mullany (Monument Mountain Regional High School, 11^th grade): “One Last Time”;

Allison Stevens (Monument Mountain Regional High School, 12^th grade): “My Father the Dentist”

Poetry: Linnéa Kristina Clark (Miss Hall’s School, 12^th grade): “I Wanted to Write This Light”;

Shan Wang (Mt. Greylock Regional High School, 11^th grade): “My Grandfather and His Bonsai”

A ceremony honoring the awardees will be held at The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, on Thursday, June 1 at 4:00 PM.  For additional information, please call David Dashiell at (413) 637-1899, ext. 115.